The Locket
by penguinkj
Summary: What would happen if the boys meet up with children they never knew they had? Minor Language
1. Chapter 1

"Into the west came many men, some were good men and some were bad men. Some were good men with some bad in them, and some were bad men with some good in them. This is the story of two pretty good bad men…" Well not exactly. Truth is those two pretty good bad men, Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry, were the most successful outlaws to ever hit the Wild West. They grew up to effectively change the course of the American Frontier during their reign; they even did a lot to change railroad schedules as well. Eventually it boiled down to the Governor of the Wyoming territory promising them an amnesty, even after fifteen _long_ years of train and bank robbing, but we're not here to talk about that. No, our story goes back when they pulled their first job as members of the Devil's Hole Gang, sixteen years ago… "

"Jed you in?" A boy of no more than fifteen looks over his cards at his dozing cousin, his chocolate eyes full of mystery and wonder.

The "kid" version of Kid Curry thrusts his head up, with a king of spades stuck to his sweaty forehead. "Wha…?" His blue eyes cross to examine the foreign card stuck to his tanned head. Fun at first, it soon gives the fifteen year old a headache so he merely peels the card from his skin.

Heyes wipes back his brown hair from his perspiring skin before sighing, "Jed, imagine how the others would react if you did that at the game. Now let's go, we'll be late." Heyes picks up his dusty black hat from the dresser and straightens out his messy clothes. One had to be careful around this bunch of outlaws as they could dish out worse punishment than your own parents, and that's saying something.

"Who plays cards at two in the morning," Jed asks mournfully as he follows Heyes' suit, but he places his hat on backwards. He stumbles to the door, his baby blue eyes only half-open.

"Our bosses do." Heyes reaches out for the Kid just as he falls into the doorframe. Struggling to keep him up, Heyes tries to talk him into awareness. "Now don't you do that. You know how hated we are already."

"I just can't understand why we can't rest, that's all. You know as well as I do how far we had to run from that posse," Kid says slumping into a nearby chair.

"They had to do just as much running, if not more." He reaches down and fixes his cousin's hat. With a dimpled smile, Heyes pulls his partner to his feet. "Put on your best face and don't say anything stupid, you hear. I think I may be close to befriending Ol' Jim Santana…Look, you stay awake and I'll buy you your first whisky."

For the first time since the job, Kid's baby blue eyes sprung to life. They hold, once more, their child-like joy as if Heyes' word was the best to go by. "You mean that?"

Another smile spreads across Heyes' face, "Yes Jed I mean it, but you have to stay awake."

"Don't worry Heyes I will…Oh and Heyes?"

"Yeah," Heyes responds as he slings on his brown corduroy jacket over his broad shoulders and walks through the door.

Kid puts on his own sheep wool-lined jacket as he follows Heyes out into the abandoned hallway outside their hotel room, "Don't call me Jed. It wears on me."

A short chuckle escapes the witty outlaw before he remarks, " All right your highness. What am I supposed to call you?"

"Everyone calls me Kid, so I suppose that name'd fit just right."

"Suits you perfectly J-. I mean, Kid," Heyes agrees, knowing how well it did suit his cousin. Kid swells with pride from Heyes' agreement to the name after all, it had been the first thing they had agreed upon for weeks. Kid had held onto his "baby face" structure ever since birth and the lightness of his eyes reveals the curiosity that always lingers there. However, those innocent structures had an inimitable way of changing on a dime to features he could only describe as that of a fight between a rampaging drunkard and a boulder with the drunk losing every time. Kid is always the boulder in every instance he meddles into and the poor fool to tangle with him, was the drunk. Heyes held a high respect for Kid because of this despite him being a year or two younger than him.

Heyes leads the way all the way downstairs into the smoke filled room. Other smells of whiskey and questionable substances linger throughout the room as well. Pretty saloon girls hang by the bar, scoping out possible targets. The other gang members sit alone at a corner table. Seeing the two finally come into the room, they annoyingly beckon them over.

"What took you?"

"We were practicing."

"Oh so it'll be even sweeter when we beat you kids."

"Kyle!" Everyone turns to the owner of the gruff voice capable of taking all of their attention. A plump Mexican American with strong facial features glares at all under his command. His brown eyes and dark hair contribute to his intimidating disposition. It didn't help that he also holds in his hand a silver six-shooter, probably already cocked. "Now these boys deserve to be here as much as any one of you. As I recall, they had pulled double the weight you yella' bellies did. You either give them respect or you deal with me." The outlaws round the table grumble and glare at the two newcomers. As for Heyes and Curry, they hold their own against the fixed stares of the others but deep inside, were dreading being among men that would shoot you as easily as look at you. Jim senses the tension and announces his retirement, "I suggest you all get some rest." With that, Jim leaves for his suite upstairs. The rest follow close behind him, heading for separate rooms. Heyes and Curry remain at the table and order some drinks.

Heyes pushes his hand through his auburn hair before looking back to Kid, "Wanna play a round or two?" A couple rounds go by and Heyes wipes Curry's money supply.

"Heyes I don't know how you do it."

"Gotta have a little faith Kid and someday you'll be just like me."

"If that's true, then saloon girls everywhere would have something to look forward to." One of the giggling saloon girls from the bar ventures over to their table. Taking a seat by Kid, she slowly wraps a finger around one of her many caramel curls. Her starry cerulean eyes gaze longingly into Kid's and they both seem to be lost in their own little world. "Hello handsome."

"Why hello ma'am." Kid seems to be a little uncomfortable with the sudden presence of the lady but quickly recovers when he sees Heyes' nod of approval. "What's your name?"

"Let's discuss it over some drinks, huh?" The saloon girl takes her seat across Kid's lap and drops her hair so it tickles his mouth just a bit. Clearly enjoying herself, she swabs the hair away from Kid's lips strand by strand. Kid swallows hard but doesn't show his nervousness. Heyes was always better with women so having this girl all over him is quite a shock.

Kid raises his hand to the bartender as if he'd done it all his life, "Bartender!"

"Coming right up mister." The bartender delivers the drinks.

After consuming their drinks, the saloon girl gives Kid a smile that Heyes knows all too well. She slips her hand into his and leads him up from his chair. Finding nothing to say, Kid sputters out the first thing to cross his mind. "What's your name?"

She looks almost confused, "Why do you want to know so bad, huh?"

"It's only polite ma'am."

After a glance of pure shock, she grins from ear to ear as she answers with one word, "Shelly."

"You want to lead the way Shelly?" Kid holds his arm out to the first woman to ever look at him as he takes up her offer. Shelly gladly accepts the offered arm and leads her blonde Adonis up the stairs to her room.

Heyes takes another swig from his beer and decides the others should be knocked out cold by now so it'd be safe to go upstairs. Then again, maybe it'd be safer to stay down here tonight. There's only so far befriending the leader could get you. Besides, he'd have to do it all over again if Jim quit or worse…got killed. Maybe he should become leader…_Right, I'd have a better chance of...of…seducing that girl over there._ Through the corners of his eyes, he spots a beautiful specimen he'd like to claim. Despite his knowledge of women, he knows nothing of saloon women. Her black hair is pulled back into a ponytail of curls. Each curl seems to sparkle and shine like a sea of stars in the night sky. Two of the stars had ventured to her face where they found lodging in her doe brown eyes, but her face radiates the very power of the sun.

She notices his staring and walks over to him. Putting on his best smile, which seems to have melted her heart, he watches her swan-like gait as she skates across the floor and floats into a chair beside him. She raises one leg to cross it over the other, revealing her stockings going all the way up to her high thighs. Her voice is a lustrous one, ironically not common in most saloon girls. "So I saw your friend go up with Shelly."

"That's about right ma'am."

"You realize you won't be seein' him at least til noon tommaraw, maybe longer if he's good…that gives us time to have some of our own."

"If you don't make me broke by the time my partner comes back, that is. Name's Heyes, what's yurs?"

The saloon girl flashes him a quirky smile at his question, nevertheless it is the finest example of a gentleman she's found yet in this desolate wasteland of a country. "Such a gentleman."

"Thank you ma'am," Heyes says tipping his hat to the lady.

"Name's Eveland," she introduces herself all lady-like and boring for the young outlaw. She adds with a whisper in his ear, "But under our circumstances, call me Evee."

Each outlaw had unique experiences that night. Such experiences, that written, would weave a tale not acceptable for the young minds so let's skip on to the next morning. Early next morning they stumble into their reserved rooms, clearly drunken from the rich encounter of the night before. Lying in their own beds, both close their eyes to sleep. A few moments pass by before Santana comes barging into their room.

"Alright you ninnies. Rise to the day." When neither rises, Santana takes the bottom cover of each bed and yanks hard, causing its occupants to fly onto the floor. The first couple of groans bring chuckles of laughter to Jim's bulgy face. "First romp with a saloon girl, eh? I wasn't as tired as you two but I know the feeling. Now come on, I got another job for us. Downstairs in five minutes you hear, or I drag you down each step."

The two young men lie on the floor, lifeless and oblivious to everything but their aching muscles. "Heyes," Kid calls out.

"What," is the muffled answer.

"Whose idea was it to run away?"

Heyes stands to brush himself off, "Yours Kid all yours."

Kid stands and combs back his blonde locks with his shaking hands. "Yet you made a mistake Heyes."

Gathering his gun belt and hat, Heyes looks back, "How'd you figure that?"

"Well, you agreed with me."

Heyes stands agape at the truth in that statement. "You know Kid sometimes I wonder…"

"So that's the smoke I see. I thought a prairie fire was ablaze in that mind of yours." Kid's eyes, full of laughter, dance at the chance to jab at his cousin, irritating him is always fun, when you did it right.

"Kid, now keep that insultin' to yourself when we meet up with the gang," Heyes remarks dryly. Hopefully his message gets through Kid's thick head. Sometimes he could be so stubborn, no wonder he always had to protect him during childhood. Kid commences to go through the door, but Heyes thrusts an arm out to intercept his hot-blooded cousin. "Kid, I'm not going to let you out this door until you cool down that temper of yours."

Kid reaches down to his hat and plops it squarely on his brow before adding, "What am I going to do, say something stupid when we're already in the gang?"

After a brief moment of silence, Heyes nods, "Yes…yes I think so." The playful expression had gone from his face, and Kid's too. "I…if you don't keep your mouth shut," Heyes raises his fists in defense. "I'll knock you into next week."

Kid raises a hand to knock Heyes' fists from his level but meets resistance from his steadfast cousin. He has to make it clear to Heyes he won't say anything so he could go down and have breakfast like any normal outlaw of their gang's standings, "Well I won't. I'll be meek as a mouse, you hear? I give my word."

"What kind of promise is that?" Heyes lowers his fists a little in confusion but soon returns them to their post.

"I'll have you know that that promise is a solemn promise. Now come on Heyes." Kid goes up to remove Heyes' fists and succeeds this time. "We're partners."

Convinced that Kid has simmered down some, Heyes smiles warmly before patting his partner's shoulder as they walk out to meet the gang. Turns out, Santana wants to rob the bank at Fort Worth. The job runs smoothly, until the posse catches up to them. Being the leader, Santana has to carry the money back to the hideout (all $55,000 of it). The rest of the gang members, including Heyes and the Kid, make it back to the hideout. Couple of days later, they receive word Ol' Jim had gotten the drop on from that posse and tossed in jail. The sentence totals to thirteen years. Everyone wonders what to do, except Heyes. His eyes are bright with all the promise that scheming can bring…….


	2. Chapter 1a

The sun peaks over the horizon, signaling the start of a new day, in the peaceful town of Abilene. The men would soon be heading out to their jobs and the women would be seen mingling about the streets. For now there seems to be only silence in every place, except on the roof of the local hotel where a woman of no more than sixteen lies "belly-up" on its cool surface. Her long mahogany hair rolls down her shoulders, framing her golden face and chocolate eyes like a luscious dessert wrapped in gold casing. Her rosy lips and cheeks serve as the ribbons of the wrapping but her curves pull everything together like an invisible lasso. Feminine cut features control most of her body but her broad shoulders and masculine jaw line betray them. Atop her bouncy brunette curls sits a broad brimmed black hat that proves her experience with the dust trails of drag riding by the many dust colored stains. A contrasting tan vest encompasses her loose navy shirt. Her beige pant legs are neatly tucked into dusty brown boots, which provide vital maneuverability when being one jump ahead of a posse became a crucial part of survival. Of course that's all the Wild West is really about, survival.

Rubbing her aching eyes, she rolls onto her side to gaze at the sunrise, "Mornin' sunshine." It's too bad her dream had ended but seeing _him_ seems to be too much even in a dream. Sitting upright, she looks at her hands and their slenderness reminds her of her mother. _God I miss you mom_, she thinks. She reaches under the folds of her many shirts to extract an amulet strung upon a single gold chain with charms strung along the outer edges of the amulet. Despite its weathered appearance, it displays a charm of true beauty. Opening the locket part of the emotionally attached medallion, she gazes at the picture of the woman inside.

The smiling man next to her appears to be around her own present age. His floppy brown hair and doe brown eyes match hers to a point; even his jaw-line and shoulders bear an uncanny resemblance. The two indentations along the sides of his mouth also adorn her list of self-description. The woman displays her feminine cut features that define her own body and her smile that could make anyone laugh.

Letting the light hit the medallion, the strange woman thinks again. _Oh, how I wish you was here once more mother. How I do wish to meet him? Why can't you be here so you could help me, but…No! You'd still be here if it wasn't for him! Why did you hide him from me? Wait a minute_, she quickly looks around and curses herself for forgetting to bring paper and ink up with her. She'll have to resort to her ways of musing aloud but after a few moments of racing thoughts and ideas she cries out, "This is gonna be a GREAT deal!"

She quickly kips up from her safe position on the roof, a little too quickly she realizes as she falls back down to prone and begins to slide down the bumpy shingles. Letting gravity do its work, she maneuvers herself to fly off at a certain part of the roof. Gravity does its job too well as she misses the gutter completely on her way to the cold, hard ground below. Fortunately, the windows happen to be on that side and she aims once more for the rim of one on the second floor. This time, she manages to connect and helplessly hangs twenty feet in the air with nothing to stop her but her next-to-nothing grip on the windowsill. Using one hand to support her weight, a decision she quickly starts to regret as her sweat drenched hand starts to slip against the dry wood, she uses the other hand to slide the window open. Successfully able to make a sizeable opening, she uses the first opportunity of movement she can to propel herself through the opening.

A couple of somersaults accompany her entry, which leaves her a little light-headed, but she quickly recovers and swiftly draws her firearm from her holster when she realizes she isn't the only one in the room. Realizing she has to make the first move before the dangerous gunman does, she hisses into the darkness, "Danny it's me."

A voice floats through the shadows and though she sees no movement, she knows where her stealthy cousin is hid along the patterned wall. "Jesse, you should know better." A match is struck against the lamp and the location of Danny is revealed, exactly where she thought he was. Her distant cousin has a muscular form; although his speed with his weapon can be contradictive to his robust build. His many caramel blonde locks are plastered to his tanned skin but they fail to cover those penetrating ocean blue eyes she has come to love and, sometimes hate. His white shirt flaps openly, revealing the muscles beneath. The gun belt strapped to his pants contains a suitable amount of ammunition and…_oh no, those stupid pink pants again._ White knuckles on his right hand signal to her that he had had the weapon on her ever since she flew off the roof.

Giving him her all too familiar impish grin, she slides coolly onto her side of the bed. "How would you like to rob a bank tomorrow night?"

Danny's blue eyes jump to life, as does the rest of his body, when she utters out the suggestion. He starts going on and on how he'd have to specially prepare his gun for the shootout. "It's about time you came around. I was beginning to feel that you'd never take a chance again. Why'd it take so long?"

"Because," she begins, "This ain't no regular job."

Danny freezes in his tracks when he recognizes the absence of laughter usually present in her voice at the prospect of a new job. His joy drains from his face as he sees Jesse gaze absently into her mother's locket with _his_ picture beside hers mother's. He didn't want to admit it, but this job probably has something to do with Heyes and Curry. He sits down beside Jesse and looks into her enraged eyes and knows that talking about it while she's in this fit would most likely mean the end of his life. He knows, though, that if he doesn't speak now, the scheme running around in her head would disappear into oblivion and he had waited two months for this opportunity to come up. He slips an arm around her shoulders and snaps the locket shut in her hands with his other free hand. The courage he'd been looking for suddenly rushes forward and he uses it to his advantage. After all his tongue may not be silver as Jesse's is, he could soothe any woman if he set his mind to it. "Look Jess…why don't you explain the job to me. How can it be different?"

Jess quickly looks up into Danny's eyes full of understanding and compassion that only kin could provide these days. "It's different because…because…because it involves _him_!" She throws the locket to the floor at the mention of the male in the photograph. A long sigh escapes her parched lips before uttering slow and venomously, "It's high time we meet them at last." Jesse strolls over to the window and looks, with a snicker most devious, at the bank beginning to fill with activity from the town's honest citizens. Turning her back to the scene, she pulls out a personalized sketched map of the interior structure. Jesse whips the folds from it before laying it out on the top of the dresser. "Look at this schematic of the bank Danny, what do you see?"

Danny keeps his eye on her all the way to the window but changes direction to the map sprawled on the dresser top. "Standard bank, probably built in the last fifteen years."

Jesse smacks the map before snapping at Danny, "But _what_ do you see."

He runs a finger in circles at two places along the front wall of the building. The fact he recognizes that the deeper indentations mean something astounds Jesse. What's even more amazing is his ability of identification. "Fold down iron bars across the window frame. The tellers' booths seem a little long, enough for an alarm button and concealment of an armed weapon. Maybe?"

"Following the probable wire path would lead you here," she indicates a part otherwise noted to be the occupation of an encircled circle with a large dot in the middle. "This is where the bell has been hidden."

Danny's mind races to the conclusion that he has feared ever since they started their "outfit", "We're going in the daylight?"

"Course not. Don't you know Jesse by now Danny?" Both conspirers turn to the figure in the doorway, guns drawn. "Now's that any way to treat your kin? I'm mighty interested in what Heyes and Curry have to do with this. Oh and when they're coming in too of course." The final member of their group, Annie, is the "lady" of the group. Her long blonde hair cascades down and around her temples and cheekbones with ease, as if the old prairie wind had run through the many locks forward and back again. Her azure eyes seem darker than Danny's but they've got a more emerald tint to them. Her choice of attire today seems to be a lacy cobalt and snow-white dress that curves to her body like a second skin. She holds her hair in a half-bun, using pins and other sorts of contraptions that Jesse never seems to understand. A deafening silence overtakes the three as if daring each other to be the first to speak. "Well continue."

"Alright! No need to get proddy there Annie." Turning her focus back to the task at hand, she examines the lines with heightened curiosity. Before she continues with her plan though, she calls out to Annie. "Check the schedule for groups pushing beef through this town."

"Any particular group you want me to look out for, your highness."

Taking in the sarcastic venom, she spits it back like a never-ending game of tennis. "Why yes princess. Look for the group led by Ol' Johnson."

"Yes your majesty." Annie takes her "bow" before leaving the two to their scheming.

Danny shakes his head in annoyance, "Why you guys fight so much, I'll never understand."

"Hate to break it to you Danny but you ain't a woman."

He folds his arms across his chest and pushes the back of his chair to the wall before muttering, "Fortunately for me."

Jesse stops dead in her tracks at the death comment made by her cousin. Drawing her gun, Jesse aims it at Danny's shins. "Take that _back_!"

Danny releases a hearty chuckle, "You won't shoot me."

"Oh yeah, try me." Jesse barely feels the metal of her trigger when Danny dives down and swipes the revolver from her hand.

"Whoa," Danny rolls out from his dive and smacks his head on the opposing wall while releasing a groan of pain from underneath his contorted body.

Jesse also sighs at her cousin's stupidity. It doesn't take long to drag her cousin's wobbly body to a standing position, after which she holsters her captive revolver and fixes up Danny's ruffled clothing. "In the name of Sam Hill, Danny, can't you concentrate? Getting yourself all messy, what'd you think people at town would say?" Leading him over to a chair, and letting him slump down into it, Jesse grabs the pitcher of ice-cold water by the window. She teases him at first with a few small drops across his forehead but she soon becomes bored and dumps the entire pitcher over Danny's head.

Danny gasps for air as the icy water pours all over his head and underneath the folds of his loose shirt, piercing his skin's senses like millions of bullets. "What was that for?" He reaches out blindly for something to wipe the beads of irrigation from his brow.

"For not concentrating," Jesse decrees while tossing him a towel. She takes a seat in a chair opposite Danny's before continuing with her plan. "Now where did I leave off?"

Danny slides down into his chair before tipping his hat over his eyes and asks, "I asked if we were going in daylight, you know like we normally do?"

"No, we're going in the dark. The way Heyes and Curry would." Danny raises his hat above his eyes and follows Jesse's movements with his gaze. Jesse has given up her unmoving position in the chair to replace it with the back and forth motion of pacing. "You're gonna ask why aren't you?"

"I always ask why."

"Okay, bad example but just humor me."

Danny's lips curl into a smile from the innocent sense of gullibility Jesse emanates like a child. He decides to go along, just like always, "Alright, I give. Why?"

Jesse's chest swells with the pride of laying out a perfectly good plan, "Every part of our plan needs to replicate that of any plan Heyes and Curry might have put into use. I've done my homework on this one Danny for one purpose and one alone…to nab Heyes and Curry once and for all. They've been given that amnesty, which means they're riding out in the open. Right now they're headed here as their last stop on the cattle drive. Under normal circumstances they'd ride in, get their pay and then ride off, but these aren't normal circumstances."

"Get back to the robbery, how exactly are we going to pull this with the sheriff's office right next door to the bank?"

"I've taken a perimeter check of the building, the best entrance is on the side, doesn't have a lock. By the way the dust was on the handle, no one probably knows of the existence of that door. When we get there, your post will be there. Meanwhile, I'll go in and hold up the teller. When you hear me yell "Kid", and only then you hear otherwise the operation collapses, you come running in and have them all back against the wall. You can already draw fast so people thinking you're Kid Curry won't be much of a problem. As for me…"

Danny realizes his cousin's problem even before she says it. "That's true, how are you going to look like Heyes, let alone a guy?"

Jesse takes up her hair into a loose bun and reapplies her hat over the knot. Slipping off her vest, she changes into a slightly large brown corduroy jacket. Taking some dirt from the outside of the building, she spreads it along the side of her face, giving the apparent frontal visualization of Hannibal Heyes side burns and all. Having so close a resemblance gives her an edge that normally, no one could duplicate.

Jesse turns to Danny for a report, which he gives after a few moments of stuttering. "I can't tell you two apart from first glance. The only thing you have to worry about is the hair."

"That's what I thought," Jesse responds as she uses some excess water from the bowl base of the pitcher to wash away the makeshift masculinity. "Anyway once we get the manager and clerks all up against the wall and quiet, I'll go on over to the safe and open it."

"Wait. The safe, what model is it?"

Clicking her tongue against her inside cheek, Jesse continues with a giant smile, "Pierce and Hamilton…71."

"You sure you can do it?" This time it's not Danny who throws that remark, but it's Annie who wears the mark of sarcasm. "Johnson's party should be rolling in sometime after six."

"Perfect timing all around. The bank closes at four thirty today, for reasons still beyond my comprehension, giving us around an hour and a half to pick the bank clean and drop the money into their saddlebags. I was just getting to your part of the plan."

"Oh and what's that?"

"You see your part is two-fold. When they come into the last stop outside of town, you'll need to go and act as damsel in distress to either one, it don't matter. You need to lure them here so that before I go in to steal the money, there'll be one more witness and that's you. Once Danny comes in, pretending to be Kid, someone's gotta protest and get hurt."

Annie massages the slack from her jaw at the prospect of being used for bait. "Are you guinea piggin' me?"

Sensing the tension around the room about to constrict his ribs, Danny steps between the two in case the claws came. He grabs Annie's shoulder, in a restraining way, and tries to soothe her rage. "Annie, I won't hurt you that much." Almost backing off from the intense glare that replies to his futile statement, he quickly follows up with stern advice. "In fact, most of it's gotta be a dramatization on your part if people are gonna believe it."

Annie opens her mouth to protest when Jesse raises a limp hand to stop her, amazing how much power indifference can hold huh? "Right, so let's get back to actually getting the money. I've dealt with these safes before and thanks to the combination of my parents' traits, my hearing senses lie on extreme acuteness compared to others. Once we get the money, Danny and I need to scram. When we're gone, you need to make a very big deal of this. Do everything in your power to give us a five-minute head start. We need every minute we can. Please, I beg of you."

Annie seems utterly confused for the few moments of silence that follow Jesse's monologue. "Your actually asking for my help?"

Jesse stops dead in front of Annie, with her hands enclosing around Annie's. On one knee, Jesse looks dead-set into Annie's eyes with a regard of honor. "No Annie, I need your help. If this plan works, we'll have $20,000 and have those two behind bars where they belong."

Danny, remaining in his position with his eyes covered, supports the back of his head with his hands. "What'll _we_ do after they're found with the money in their chuck wagon? I mean, they'll be arrested just as sure as I see you now. What'll we do then? We won't be any richer. How're we gonna get that $20,000 dollars you're rantin' about."

"Ah it's then, my dear Daniel, the core of my plan unfolds. The robbery is but a set up for the two to wind up in jail. In another hour afterwards, what are we at seven now? Right, anyhow, I'll pose as a lawyer with the hope of being able to defend them." Danny's lazy right eye rolls from its normal position to the edge of his eye where it stares her down. Jesse chuckles at her cousin's obstinate ways and reacts with, "Don't worry, I've checked and yes women can be lawyers in this territory. I'll be able to talk to them just as any other lawyer. I'll bring Annie in as a witness with you as my bodyguard. During that time Annie, I need you to be very scared of Kid. I'll even allow anger, if you can manage it that is."

Her eyes, once full of abundant laughter, snap into a fit of seriousness and rage. "Believe me, I can manage. Especially after what he did sixteen years ago. He…"

"We all know what he and Heyes did. Now it's time to bring them to justice. Tomorrow night, when darkness and sleep have possessed every thing left living in this town, we'll make our move. I'll come up with a way to knock them out but one way or another, but we're gonna bust them from jail. We'll wait for the next morning to ride on to Junction City where we'll turn them in."

Annie sighs with a small chuckle thrown in, "Is there anything you haven't covered?"

Jesse glances over her right-hand shoulder with a subtle sneer, "If there is, you'll remind me." It isn't until dark that Annie sneaks off from her position in town to the chuck wagon where their victims await for their unknowing demise.

Meanwhile just outside the town, around the fire of a chuck wagon….


End file.
